As a team works to restore the North Carolina-South Carolina border to the original 1772 lines, some worry about the consequences.

Old maps and borders where often determined by local landmarks like trees, rivers, roads, fences, etc. Trees get uprooted and over time, rivers will wend their way down slightly different paths and the informal old borders get called into question. The border between North and South Carolina, traversing through swampy forested area was imperfect and now that they are trying to rectify it, some South Carolina residents face the prospect of needing to be North Carolina residents...not a small thing when you consider the utilities, government documents, taxes and voting.

ISO: The best state-based political blogs Washington Post (blog) That's how long it's been since we released our most recent list of the best political blogs in each of the 50 states. In that time, blogs have risen and fallen.

A great and entertaining way to explain this part of Europe. I know I have in the past used the terms England, Great Britain and the United Kingdom to all refer to the same thing. It was also amazing to see that people are the same everywhere in that the people in Wales do not consider themselves British, much the same way the people in Sicily consider themselves Sicilain and not Italian.

As an outsider looking in the concept of the United Kingdom is a little confusing. We are taught to view Scotland as its own country, but they are countries within a larger structure. This video makes what would confuse many Americans and condenses it into a clear video that is just about 5 mins.

Many people often interchange the UK, Great Britain, and England, but in reality, they all describe different different things. The UK is a country of four countries, each with equal power, including Scotland, Northern Ireland, England, and Wales but they are all considered British citizens.UK is a political term, describing a country. Great Britain is a physical geographical term describing the land mass containing Scotland, Wales, and England. The British Isles refers to both Great Britain and the Island of Ireland. All of these terms describe different things, being characterized by either political affiliation or geographic characteristics.

What is devolution and how has it changed how Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are governed?

This article with videos, charts and images was designed as a primer for UK voters for the 2010 election to understand who devolution in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland were reshaping the political landscape in the United Kingdom. It is general enough that even though it is outdated as a news story, it serves as a concrete example from geography students to understand the processes and reasons for a decentralization of political power.

The parliament in London is shifting more power to Scotland and other areas in what is called devolution. This reflects a push for more independence of countries in the UK that are not England. In order to keep the UK together concessions must be made, this devolution is the British Parliament's efforts to keep the UK intact.

This picture explains how devolution works and provides a specific example with the breaking down of power of the imperialist England and it's control into an equally represented United Kingdom. This is an example of devolution at it's best.

This picture relates to unit 4 because it shows how devolution, which is a major part of unit 4, works. It explains it's parts and gives specific geographic examples as in the U.K. this overall relates to unit 4.

Devolution is the transfer of powers from a central government to more regional power, in this case, the UK. The UK devolved its powers to England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. These countries have had independent parliaments since 1997. Some "reserved powers" have not been devolved from the UK such as foreign affairs, military defense, international and economic policies. This change of power has stirred questions on public spending and tax policies, and is still a debate and event to keep your eye on.

I feel that devolution has many benefits that outweigh the negative consequences such as money spending. Countries can function in a more independent manner and govern themselves within their defined boundaries in a more efficient way. This topic and article gives greater insight to our political unit and provides great insight for each country's respective parliament.

Sometimes the news can be good news! The historic April 1st election in Burma that saw Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy win 43/45 parliamentary seats is being hailed as the first free and fair elections for 50 years!

This is a current perspective on the many changes transforming Myanmar back into Burma. For more by John Boyer, see: http://www.plaidavenger.com/ ;

The oppressive government of Myanmar (aka Burma) may finally be realizing that they are in a sense their own enemy. Since free elections seem to have taken place (and apparently were not 'faked' like other reforming nations have done), it seems as if the government of the time is admitting a type of defeat by showing that more citizens are against it than for it. This also implies that despite giving up political power, those previously in charge of the government see potentially better lives for themselves by not being the only ones in control. If this holds true, then it can serve as a powerful example to oppressive governments that in order to fulfill your own best interests, you have to let others vie for their own. This can also serve as an argument for pro-Democratic activists.

Burma is an area where the identity of the people has been muddled. This is an election that signals the people of Burma acting to clarify their needs through free and fair elections. Democracy is a powerful tool in regards to expressing the voices of the people. Aung San Suu Kyi is now the face of that voice.

This video explains that today the nation of Burma is at the cusp of change. This nation long oppressed by its government now stands to usher in a system of democracy and bring with it a hope of improving the lives of it's citizens. Sadly uplifting events are far and few between today but also long as people such as this aspire to bring change and better things for themselves and their families change can happen. Hopefully the people actually are able to achieve this level of freedom they seek and won't simply end up with a new brand of oppression.

The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday approved the Legislature's plans for new congressional, House and Senate districts, paving the way for the state to begin using the maps in preparation for the November elections.

What is gerrymandering? Why, when and where might it happen? What strikes you as distinct about district 5?

The Choices Program asks Brown University's Political Scientist Melani Cammett to briefly explain the Arab Spring. This is a great primer to teach young students who don't follow international news to understand the beginnings of the Arab Spring. For more videos by the Choices Program in their "Scholars Online" series, see:

The Arab Spring can be described as an uprising of Arab protesters that are no longer afraid to stand up against their rulers to improve their own political and economic conditions. Arabs march in the streets and hold signs to get their points across in hopes that things will eventually look up.

The Arab Spring is an event the media has spend great deals of time talking about, both pros and cons. Yet unfortunately they've neglected to give a decent description of what it actually is. This video provided and over view of the beginnings of the Arab Spring and what it has blossomed into today.

(Africa)Melani Cammett, the Political Scientist and Brown University was asked to describe the Arab Spring by The Choices Program. She does a good job explaining this. The Arab Spring is a term used to describe the various uprisings coming out of the Middle East and Africa which started in December 2010, and then picked up a lot of speed in 2011. The Arab spring started in Tunisia when a fruit and vegetable farmer lit himself on fire to protest his treatment by the police. Acts like this spread through Tunisia and through Egypt into the Middle East. So the Arab Spring refers to the wave of protest that ranges from morocco to Syria and Oman. People have lost their fear of protest against the government, which is surprising because in these areas it is previously unheard of. It seems like the people are taking notes from peaceful American protests, instead of resorting to violence.

Does it matter if I call the sea to the east of the Korean Peninsula the "East Sea" and if you call the body of water the west of Japan the "Sea of Japan?" Absolutely. When dealing with matters of diplomacy, a name reflects how a country is viewed. For many years the Sea of Japan has been the defacto name internationally and South Korean officials have lobbied (quite successfully) to bolster the legitimacy of the name within the media, publishers and cartographers. What other places have multiple names? What are the political overtones to the name distinctions? To watch a 10-minute video on the history of the name, see: http://bit.ly/Lu5puJ

This issue seemed to be largely overshadowed by China’s claims in the Philippines. While changing the name of the Sea of Japan may have no immediate tangible impact on either country, it will certainly have a symbolic one and could possible pave the way for a claim to exclusive water rights within the area in the future. If a valuable resource such as oil is discovered in this disputed area then perhaps Russia, China or even the US will also get involved?

Of course it matters whether you call it the East Sea opposed to calling it the Sea of Japan, just like it matters if you call the Mississippi River the Central River or something lame like that. I feel like Japanese citizens would take much offense if someone tried to change the sea's name. It is traced back to Japanese history and heritage which kind of gives them the right to have it named after them. I use the Mississippi River as a comparison because it also traces history and heritage and has every right to be named after the state. Also, (and this might be off subject), if we changed the name of Sea of Japan it would probably take a generation to get the name remembered as "East Sea". It would only create confusion just like if we changed the name of the Mississippi.

This is an interactive way to teach the importance of the redistricting process. Mapmakers (and geography) are crucial to the process. This game shows students how the process can be manipulated and if you understand local demographics and voting patterns, subtle shifts in the district borders can swing elections. This is a great way to teaching gerrymandering and how political cartography can be.

What is devolution and how has it changed how Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are governed?

This article with videos, charts and images was designed as a primer for UK voters for the 2010 election to understand who devolution in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland were reshaping the political landscape in the United Kingdom. It is general enough that even though it is outdated as a news story, it serves as a concrete example from geography students to understand the processes and reasons for a decentralization of political power.

The parliament in London is shifting more power to Scotland and other areas in what is called devolution. This reflects a push for more independence of countries in the UK that are not England. In order to keep the UK together concessions must be made, this devolution is the British Parliament's efforts to keep the UK intact.

This picture explains how devolution works and provides a specific example with the breaking down of power of the imperialist England and it's control into an equally represented United Kingdom. This is an example of devolution at it's best.

This picture relates to unit 4 because it shows how devolution, which is a major part of unit 4, works. It explains it's parts and gives specific geographic examples as in the U.K. this overall relates to unit 4.

Devolution is the transfer of powers from a central government to more regional power, in this case, the UK. The UK devolved its powers to England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. These countries have had independent parliaments since 1997. Some "reserved powers" have not been devolved from the UK such as foreign affairs, military defense, international and economic policies. This change of power has stirred questions on public spending and tax policies, and is still a debate and event to keep your eye on.

I feel that devolution has many benefits that outweigh the negative consequences such as money spending. Countries can function in a more independent manner and govern themselves within their defined boundaries in a more efficient way. This topic and article gives greater insight to our political unit and provides great insight for each country's respective parliament.

Newsweek Welcome to Botswana Newsweek Indeed, Illinois faces the worst pension shortfall of any state. The cost of pensions and health benefits to retired state employees has doubled over the past decade, to 15 percent of state spending.

In the lush rainforests of Africa's Congo Basin, hundreds of thousands of indigenous people live as hunter gatherers, depending on the forest's natural resources for their survival.

The "Mapping for Rights" program trains people in the Congo to map the land they live on using GPS and other geospatial technologies. This can assist the to produce documents to politically protect their land from encroachment and preserve their access to the forest. Globalization can blur many of the modern/traditional narratives as the world becomes interconnected in complex ways.

As a team works to restore the North Carolina-South Carolina border to the original 1772 lines, some worry about the consequences.

Old maps and borders where often determined by local landmarks like trees, rivers, roads, fences, etc. Trees get uprooted and over time, rivers will wend their way down slightly different paths and the informal old borders get called into question. The border between North and South Carolina, traversing through swampy forested area was imperfect and now that they are trying to rectify it, some South Carolina residents face the prospect of needing to be North Carolina residents...not a small thing when you consider the utilities, government documents, taxes and voting.

This book is a compilation of letters exchanged between two 18-year-old girls who live in Jerusalem: one Israeli and the other Palestinian. Having met through a student exchange program, they openly discuss their frustrations with the political situation of 2002, and over time come to appreciate the others cultural and political viewpoints. This is a great cross-cultural interaction as the girls show their misconceptions of the other group, but through open dialogue come to an appreciation for other perspectives. This would be a good project to have student read the book and synthesize the cultural and political elements within them to reinforce the class content with a real-world example.

Divided islands, like Market in the Baltic Sea, conform to a version of Sayre's law: the smaller the territory, the more confusing the border.

In the latest chapter of the Borderlines series in the New York Times, explores the smallest divided island with characteristic insight, humor and intellectual eclecticism. "Borders allow humankind to separate what nature has united. But an island is a naturally closed entity. Its shoreline is the boundary of the bubble separating it from the rest of the world. And then impose a human-made barrier on an island? What is the meaning of isolation — a word derived, in fact, from the Latin for island — if you have to share it with someone else?"

The new African country, founded in part to escape from the northern government's violence, is showing some hostility of its own.

Independence for ethnic/religious groups, while culturally satisfying, does not necessarily solve all the problems within a region. South Sudan's 1-year anniversary shows that even though they have a short history, it has been marked by ineffective governance and social instability.

This shows that gaining your independence might be hard, but the actual creation of the new state is harder. Sometimes the new governement will impose the same methods the old "mother" country used that caused the split int he first place. They need to ask themselves the hard questions about their actions: Are we turing into the old country? Are we swapping one repressive and agressvie government for another? Again one needs to look to the past, learn form it and not make the same mistakes..or else what I like saying...history will repeat itself.

This is probably a bad comparison, but say an expansion sports team has just been created for the new upcoming season. There are new players, new equipment, and new managers to run the team. Many of these new areas probably have little to no experience with each other professionally, so therefore flaws are inevitable. In a way, the only way to go is up and mistakes which surely will be made can be used to change for the better in the future. That being said, a new country with new officals, flags, and economy to name a few are all in a "trial run." No one should expect them to suddenly become prosperous and great over a few years span. Just like a new team, a country takes time to develop, people to gain comfort, and regulations and norms for people to follow. I mean, even Rome wasn't built in a day.

This war could have been prevented. The Republic of Sudan and South Sudan are fighting over problems that may or may not exist. Independence does not always solve the problems within a region, as shown in the case of South Sudan.

This New York Times article, entitled "Kohr Principles" has excellent material for students to think about the spatial organization of political interactions. Leopold Kohr argued that size matters--and unlike most that argue for the same, he argued that political entities most not be too large. In the map above, Kohr envisioned a Europe without countries large enough to dream of world domination. So, how does a country's size shape its politics? Is there an ideal size for internal unity and external security?

I find Kohr principles interesting, but I do not think that decreasing the size of a country will reduce political turmoil or conflict. On the contrary I believe in a world divided among numerous small states, the root of all conflicts would be based upon the territorial makeup of existing states, creating a geographic security dilemma over acquiring “good” land.

(This is the first in a series of articles: “Birthing a Nation - South Sudan’s first year.”)By Alexander DziadoszPIBOR, South Sudan (Reuters) - In December, the people of this town watched the national (Unsure on title of series but impt story RT...

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